Persona and Dreams
by Lady Psychic
Summary: [one shot, shonen ai, Bronzeshipping] Marik Ishtar finds himself confronting his other personality in a twisted dream world.


_A/N: This story has been written for the third round of the YGO Fanfiction Contest. This time, the pairing is Bronzeshipping (Yami Marik x Marik Ishtar). This is the first time I've written either of them in a fanfic; so, let's hope this turns out alright. Also, like all the other fics I'm writing for this contest, this will be a one-shot._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters._

_Warnings: shonen-ai, overall weirdness, and possible OOC-ness._

**Persona and Dreams**

Marik Ishtar tossed and turned on top of his bed. It had been many months since the events at Battle City, but he still occasionally had nightmares about all the terrible things he and his other personality did. At first, he thought that it was nothing more than lingering guilt and regret, but lately, his nightmares were getting worse and were occurring more often.

After several minutes of tossing and turning, Marik finally opened his eyes and sighed. It had been the seventh time that month that he had a bad dream. For a few moments, he debated on what to do. At first, he considered staying up for the rest of the night but eventually decided against it. Both Ishizu and Odion knew about his nightmares and his sleeping problems, and they were starting to get quite worried. While Marik was glad that they cared about him, they did have a tendency to annoy him as well. So, he shook off the remnants of the recent nightmare and tried to go back to sleep.

The next thing that Marik knew was that he was floating in a strange, dark void. He wasn't sure where he was or even if it was a dream or reality. It seemed most likely to be a dream, but none of his previous nightmares had begun like this. Usually, they consisted of flashbacks of Battle City and even his childhood. However, this new dream was something different and Marik wasn't sure that he liked it.

'What's going on?' thought Marik as he drifted through the darkness. As the minutes began to pass, the air became increasingly colder. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice call out from behind him.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Marik quickly turned around to see a figure standing behind him. The figure looked almost exactly like Marik except he appeared more sinister looking and had a wilder hair style. A wicked grin appeared on the evil look-alike's face as Marik's eyes widened in both recognition and horror.

"You! It can't be! The Pharaoh erased you from existence!" shouted Marik. The evil entity simply chuckled and replied, "You really didn't think that it would have been that easy to get rid of me, dig you? The Pharaoh may have beaten me, but I was created by your own emotions and hatred. I am a part of you, and as long as you live, I will continue to exist to some extent."

Marik took a few moments to absorb what his other persona had told him. Then he asked, "Where are we? What am I doing here?"

Yami Marik gave another wicked grin as he answered, "This place is a dream world I have created within the deepest, darkest parts of your mind. I have been lurking here for quite some time in order to regain my strength. You are here to help me recover."

"Why would I help you?" spat Marik. Before he could react, long tendrils of darkness suddenly appeared and grabbed his arms and legs. The Egyptian fought against the restraints, but they continued to hold on tight.

"You have no choice", answered Yami Marik. He slowly approached the restrained young man and bent down to whisper in his ear. "That's right," said the entity, "hate me and fear me as much as you want. It will only give me more power."

Marik couldn't help but shutter as his evil persona began embrace him. It felt as if his soul was being drained. "Give in to me and drown in the darkness of your dreams", whispered Yami Marik, and the real Marik felt himself being dragged into the depths of the nightmarish dream world.

Yami Marik couldn't help but smirk. His plan was working perfectly, and soon he would be in control once more. It all began shortly after his defeat by the Pharaoh. Though he had managed to save a piece of himself, he was greatly weakened. So, the evil persona hid within the mind of his host. Over time, he created a twisted dream world and used his host's memories to lure him there. Even though the entity wasn't quite powerful enough take control yet, he figured that once his host came into his dream world he could absorb enough of the boy's energy and break him enough to be able to resume command of the body once again.

Meanwhile, Marik was still being pulled into the darkness and was bombarded by terrible memories along the way. Part of him wanted to keep fighting the darkness and the memories, but another part just wanted to give up. Suddenly, he heard a voice call his name.

"Marik? Marik! Please wake up, my brother!"

The boy still disoriented by the dark world he was trapped in, but he was sure that he heard his sister's voice calling to him. Then, he heard another familiar voice.

"Master Marik, please wake up!"

It seemed as though Odion was calling to him too. Soon, both voices began repeat his name and a bright light suddenly appeared from out of the darkness. Then Marik opened his eyes and saw the worried faces of Ishizu and Odion staring back at him.

Ishizu was holding a wet cloth over his head, and she breathed a sigh of relief when her brother opened his eyes. "I was getting quite worried," she said to her brother. "It is already the afternoon and I was worried that you would not wake up. You've been burning up with a fever since I tried to wake you this morning."

At first, Marik didn't want to tell his sister what happened. She was already very upset, and he didn't want to make her even more worried. However, he knew that Ishizu could help him figure out a way to beat his evil personality once and for all. So, after a few minutes, he told Ishizu and Odion about the events of his strange dream.

Needless to say, Ishizu was quite concerned about the concept of the evil personality taking over her brother again. She contemplated the situation for a while, before she said, "If it's true that your other self has returned; then, you must control your emotions as much as you can. Anger, hatred, and fear will not be able beat him since he was created by those emotions."

"Then, what can beat him?" asked Marik.

Ishizu gave a soft smile and said a single word: "Love".

Several hours pasted and Ishizu and Odion continued to watch over Marik. After a while, they figured that it would be safe to leave him alone for awhile so that he could get some rest. So, Marik rested in his bed after the others left, and he tried to keep his mind off the events of his dream and his evil personality. However, it wasn't long before his eyes began to close shut and he began to fall asleep.

Soon, Marik found himself back into the same twisted dream world that he was in before. His other self was directly in front of him, grinning evilly. "So, I see you have returned," said Yami Marik. "This time, neither your sister nor that fool, Odion, can help you now. You are all alone now with only me to keep you company. Will you continue your foolish struggle to maintain control of your body, or will you give in to the darkness?"

Marik didn't reply, but he simply stood in silence as he thought about what he should do. He remembered his sister's words and knew that they held the key to defeat the other persona. No matter how much he wanted to hate his other personality, Marik knew it wouldn't help in the end and would only make the entity grow stronger. So, Marik did the only thing he could think of.

He let go of his hatred and fear, walked up the other personality, and kissed him.

Yami Marik was totally caught off guard. Though he wasn't sure what his host would do, this was the last thing he expected. Yet, he quickly found himself being pulled into the kiss and he even began to return it. He was so caught up in the moment that he didn't realize that he was fading until it was too late.

The next morning, Marik Ishtar woke up with a smile on his face. The fever had gone down, and he knew that he was no longer in danger of being controlled by his other self. He also made a mental note to thank his sister.

Days and weeks went by, and things went relatively back to normal. Marik began to sleep more normally, and Ishizu and Odion were happy that he was okay. He knew deep down that Yami Marik still existed somewhere deep inside his mind, but he had now come to accept that the other personality was a part of him. The entity no longer haunted his nightmares, but he did appear in his occasional naughty dreams. Of course, he saw no need to tell Ishizu and Odion about that.

**The End**


End file.
